FILE PHOTO
Saugus senior Steven Wright is expected to play a big role for the Sachems this spring.
By HAROLD RIVERA
The Saugus boys lacrosse team finished the 2016 season at 3-15. Needless to say, that wasn’t the record the Sachems were aiming for.
With a clean slate this spring, one that fourth-year coach Rob Scuzzarella is looking forward to, Saugus is anxious to make up for last year’s mistakes. The Sachems were inexperienced last season, and it cost them.
“I think we were very young in terms of lacrosse experience,” Scuzzarella said. “I had some older guys on my team but they were new to lacrosse. I had some younger guys with lacrosse experience that were a little underdeveloped as athletes. A lot of them have worked to improve their game in the offseason, which I’m happy about.”
By gaining a year of varsity lacrosse experience, Saugus returns a core of upperclassmen who are hoping to turn things around.
Among the key returners are senior midfielders Dan Carney, Dan Jarosz, John Fitzgerald and Jack Trainor, senior attacker Stephen Wright, and senior defenders Matt Waggett and Cam Williamson.
“I have some leadership coming back,” Scuzzarella said. “I have my three leading scorers and two starting attackmen from last year.”
Other key returners are juniors Christian Billingsley, Christian Heffernan, Nick Sanderson and Drew Worthley, and sophomore Jake Morgante.
The team has an ongoing competition for the starting goalie spot, but Scuzzarella’s leaning toward giving the nod to Alex Debrito, a junior. Debrito made a number of spot starts in net for the Sachems last season.
“He’s (Debrito) got probably 10 games of starting experience under his belt right now,” Scuzzarella said. “It’s his job to lose so we’ll see how he does with that.”
Defensively, the Sachems were strong last season. The team held opponents to under eight goals a game for the majority of the 2016 season, but Saugus struggled to generate goals. Offense will be the focal point of improvement for the Sachems this season.
“We need to develop an athletic offensive attack,” Scuzzarella said. “We lacked an explosive attack on the offensive side. Our guys have worked hard. From what I’ve seen we’ve eliminated that weakness.”
The Sachems will lean on a strong, and experienced, defensive core to carry the team. Scuzzarella expects defense to be Saugus’ strength this spring.
“We return an experienced defensive core,” Scuzzarella said. “Most of them have at least one season, some have three seasons of experience in playing for me. The younger guys can learn from the experience of the older guys. Offensively, my juniors played a lot for me last year. A lot of them have shown that they’ve worked hard in the offseason.”
Scuzzarella noted that his key players on the offensive side of that ball have worked hard in the offseason and throughout the preseason.
“I’m expecting us to play well defensively,” Scuzzarella said. “It’s hard to make a prediction on offense. My expectation is to see improvement on that side of the ball. So far I’ve been pretty hard on the offensive guys in practice. Some guys have really gotten it and taken that personally this year. We’re doing a lot to get better. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”
Joining Scuzzarella on the coaching staff is newcomer AJ Guthro. This will be the first season in which Scuzzarella will have an assistant coach to provide a second set of eyes.
“It’s definitely going to help,” Scuzzarella said. “AJ works at the school. He’s a good resource for the kids during the day. That’s a big benefit for the kids. Also, having another voice around, it’s good to have a different opinion around the guys.”
Saugus was scheduled to open the season on Monday against Swampscott but the game was postponed. Weather permitting, Saugus will visit Lynn on Wednesday for its season opener.
